Miami Ranked of the hardest for 1st Time Home Buyers

Miami is an international tourist destination with a rich history, culture and even richer real estate market. Every year, millions of tourists flock to Miami to take advantage of the beaches, climate and beautiful weather. However, in the Magic City there is more than meets the eye – if anyone of these tourists decide to become a 1st time home buyer in Miami, they might want to consider looking elsewhere first.

Wallethub recently came out with their annual “Best and Worst Cities for First Time Home Buyers” list and Miami has the distinction of ranking second to last in the “Worst Cities” part.

The study looked at 300 different cities across America and took into consideration 23 key indicators of market affordability, quality of life and attractiveness. Property crime and real estate taxes were also taken into consideration. Some of the data points had full or even double weight to them. Housing affordability had a triple weight assigned to it, which is why 3 Texas cities and even Boise, Idaho ranked in the top 10 in that list.

Miami ranked #298 on the list, mostly due to the high property crime rate. The property crime rate of Miami is 43.77% per 1,000 people. Compared to the national media of “26”, Miami is a hotbed for property crimes. If we look at it another way, the odds of you being the victim of a property crime in Miami is 1 in 23 whereas in Florida it’s 1 in 36.

The news is not all doom and gloom for Florida, as Tampa ranked #31 on the list of the best cities for a first-time home buyer. Orlando was the #2 Florida city and it ranked #64 on the list.

The bottom part of the list was comprised mostly of cities in New York, Florida, California and New Jersey. The worst city of them all was Santa Barbara, California. Property crime, traffic and high cost of living made Santa Barbara rank the lowest on that list overall.

Three Texas cities took up the top 3 spots on the list. McKinney, Frisco and Allen Texas all had an affordability rank of at least “150”, with McKinney topping the chart at “191”. #4 Cary, North Carolina had a “29” affordability rank.

Another factor that contributed greatly to the low ranking of Miami was traffic. If you live in one of the zip codes in Miami Beach, chances are you have at least an hour commute (or more) to and from work. Most first-time home buyers would not want to make that kind of sacrifice, especially if they’re just starting out with a new family.